Cuzin’ Al Knoth Led New Yale President, Bluegrass Bandleader To Bluegrass In 1970s

Yale University

Peter Salovey was officially inaugurated earlier today as the new president of Yale University, New Haven, CT. Since 1990, he has led a Yale-based band, The Professors Of Bluegrass (New CD: “Pick Or Perish”).

The Deadly Gentlemen and the Professors Of Bluegrass will perform this weekend at Yale as part of the celebration.

Bluegrass Bassist Peter Salovey

Dr. Salovey also serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY.

His path into bluegrass will sound familiar to many Northern California Bluegrass Society members — he listened to Cuzin’ Al’s Bluegrass Show, hosted by Al Knoth on Gilroy’s KFAT Radio while a Stanford undergraduate in the 1970s, then learned to play banjo and bass.

Cuzin' Al plays the banjo on the air.

Al’s show rolls these days on Sunday evenings 6:00-9:00pm, KPIG Radio, 107.5FM in Freedom, CA.

Yale President Peter Salovey

Dr. Savoy, who took over as Yale’s president on July 1st, is the third psychologist to hold that position.

His academic research pioneered the field of “emotional intelligence,” the theory that people have a wide range of measurable emotional skills, just as they have a wide range of intellectual abilities, both of which profoundly affect their thinking and actions.